Enfield Liberal Democrats

Sarah Ludford's bulletin: Friday 12 February 2010

Dear Friends,

MEPs reject and terminate unfair SWIFT agreement

The European Parliament yesterday used for the first time its newly acquired Lisbon treaty powers to approve or reject international treaties. We put an end to the current privacy-breaching 'Financial Messaging Data' or SWIFT agreement (see my press release here and quoted here and here) whereby the US authorities get a monthly bulk delivery of Europeans' banking transfers data which they then search for terrorist leads. This does not create a 'security gap': effective cooperation and necessary targeted data-sharing can go on, in full compliance with EU privacy norms, through bilateral agreements and other legal mechanisms.

MEPs' point is that the aims are laudable but the methods are flawed, and we voted against the report by almost 2 to 1, despite the British Tories voting to go along with the deal. The agreement failed to incorporate sufficient of the guarantees that citizens would have if their data stayed in Europe, such as the right to seek legal redress or compensation in cases of misuse, and allowed US authorities to store some data for an unspecified time and transfer material to third countries. There was no provision for EU authorities to get reciprocal access to US financial data: such access, our rapporteur noted, would almost certainly be voted down by Congress!). We are now demanding to be fully involved in the negotiations for a better long-term agreement.

The European Parliament approves the 'Barroso II' Commission

This week the European Parliament finally approved the new 2009-2014 college of European Commissioners. 488 of 697 MEPs, or 71%, voted in favour of the Commission, giving it a good mandate of broad-based support in the European Parliament. That is slightly more than Barroso's first Commission received back in 2004, when only 66% of the Parliament voted in favour.

The process showed that member states - and Jose Manuel Barroso - have at least learnt something from the Rocco Buttiglione scandal last time round (if you remember, he had atrocious views on everything from women to homosexuality and had been put forward as civil liberties commissioner!). Whereas last time Barroso went to the wire over Buttiglione and only climbed down the night before the vote, this time Bulgarian nominee Jeleva, who faced accusations of financial misdealings, pulled out, no doubt as advised, with plenty of time to spare. That said, I would dare to hope that next time candidates of such poor quality will not be put forward at all. The Commission is an important institution, not a graveyard for national politicians who need to be dispatched.

Letter to Commissioner Potočnik about Nitrogen Dioxide pollution in London

I took the opportunity of the incoming Commission to, along with my London Liberal Democrat colleagues Ed Davey MP and Mike Tuffrey of the GLA, send the new environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik a letter demanding that he make the implementation of current air quality legislation the top item on his 'to do list'. In particular we were highlighting the jaw-dropping fact that new EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) standards that came into force on New Year's Day have already, just over a month into the year, been breached in a number of central London locations. In particular, there is a requirement that the dangerous 200 µg per cubic metre limit should not be exceeded more than 18 times in a calendar year and that tally has already been passed!

NO2 pollution in London, including at the government's landmark monitoring site outside Madame Tussaud's on Marylebone Road, is simply off the scale. We are demanding that this gross breach, and the government's lack of action to do anything about it, should be taken into account should the UK apply for a time extension on Nitrogen Dioxide, and re-apply for one on particulate matter (PM10). Potočnik does seem good, and committed to the environmental portfolio, so I hope this letter will push him to put maximum pressure on the UK regarding London air quality, especially in the run-up to the Olympics.

Binyam Mohamed ruling and British complicity in torture

This week three Court of Appeal judges ruled that the British government had to publish information on what British intelligence services knew of Binyam Mohamed's torture at the hands of the CIA.

The 'seven paragraphs' published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's website made headlines because they confirm that UK secret services did in fact collude with torture, proving right (among many other critics, politicians and lawyers) the report I helped draft for the European Parliament back in 2007 when I was vice chair of the European Parliament's temporary committee on extraordinary rendition. The case for an independent judicial inquiry here in Britain into UK complicity in torture is now unavoidable - a call that I have been making for a while, along with key figures in other political parties and leading lawyers and NGOs such as Liberty, Reprieve, Justice, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

See the "come clean on Bush poodle years" press release I issued immediately after the ruling, reacting to the news. I also this week spoke in Parliament about the closure of Guantanamo and Shaker Aamer, the last Londoner left in Guantanamo, whom the British government ought to be bringing back to London but don't seem to be, despite the fact that he has been cleared for release.

CITES endangered species resolution

This week the European Parliament passed a resolution ahead of the conference of the parties of the Convention on the Illegal Trade of Endangered Species. In it we reaffirmed the European Parliament's support for full bans on trade of African ivory, polar bears, and the highly endangered Mediterranean blue fin tuna, which some London sushi restaurants shockingly continue to serve. The Parliament also emphasised just how important the ban on tiger products is, and called for stricter enforcement of CITES rules, both in Asia and here in Europe. The thought of losing these fantastic creatures altogether - something WWF warns we are very close to - is almost too awful to bear.

Who do you call (in an emergency when in the EU)? 112!

All right, it might not flow as easily as the 'ghostbusters' theme tune, but at least it vaguely rhymes! This Thursday, 11 February (or 11-2 in shorthand!) was the second ever European 112 day, designed to raise awareness of the pan-European emergency services number. I gave my support to the campaign, as I do think it is so important to spread the word - 3 in every 4 Europeans have never even heard of it! With the number of people travelling within Europe on the up, one emergency number in all 27 countries is ever more relevant.

UKIP gets it wrong

The UK Independence Party tried, unsuccessfully, to get the European Parliament to debate Spanish 'land grab' property abuses, the excessive powers given to property developers and town planners in Spain that has meant many local and expat homeowners being left with nothing. But the reason this failed is because the European Parliament has been pursuing this matter for many years in its petitions committee. I myself first took it up 6 years ago, see here. So UKIP are johnny-come-latelies!

It was interesting however to see an anti-European party to raise a national issue at EU level. Indeed we then had an entertaining moment in plenary when former UKIP leader Nigel Farage made an idiot of himself when he tried to be clever. He said:

"Mr President, in generations to come children will be told a story. They will be told that once upon a time Europe was divided; there was a big wall down the middle of it and the people in the East were very poor and they had no democracy, and they lived under an evil system called Communism that killed millions of its own people. But, joy of joys, the wall came down and we finished up with 27 nations, and those people lived in democracy and 500 million people lived in peace..."

He wanted to go on and say 'but in fact it's all turned out to be ghastly… but by then laughter and applause had erupted all over the chamber and drowned him out. All he could splutter was

"Well, I must say that is the first time I have ever received such applause and I am tempted, Mr Verhofstadt, to sit down."

Amen to that! You can watch the speech on You Tube here - particularly amusing is how Cathy Ashton holds her head in her hands towards the end in utter, utter despair at the man!

Helping small businesses in London

I met this week with representatives of the UK Federation of Small Businesses and its European allies. This is a sector that has felt the effects of the recession particularly badly over the last year and a half, so I was glad that we voted in the European Parliament on an amendment to EU company law that will exempt firms of less than 10 employees or less than €1 million p.a. turnover from some of the most cumbersome accounting requirements - a good example of the EU reducing red tape. We are also backing a scheme for a €100 million microfinance fund which will give out loans of less than €25,000 for entrepreneurs starting up or expanding small businesses. I greatly encourage London entrepreneurs to apply for these loans if and when the fund becomes available!

The Parliament is having one of its 'turquoise' or 'constituency' weeks next week so I will not be doing the usual bulletin, but will be back in touch the week after next.

Best regards,

Sarah Ludford